Guyana’s oil continues to find eager buyers in Europe as global crude markets factor in the phenomenal output increase it has achieved in recent years.
The micro-state in Latin America — with a population of a million people — is in the midst of a full-blown oil production boom. It is now considered to be one of the industry’s most promising investment frontiers.
Guyana’s headline crude production came in at less than 100,000 barrels per day as recently as 2020. But it grew nearly four-fold to 383,000 bpd in 2023, and subsequently nearly doubled to average 600,000 bpd last year, according to the country’s Ministry of Natural Resources.
Production is expect to climb to nearly 940,000 bpd in 2025, and more may be expected according to ExxonMobil. The oil major, which is at the heart of the uptick in Guyana, expects its production capacity to surpass 1.7 million bpd, with gross production growing to 1.3 million bpd, by 2030. No wonder the Europeans want in.
According to Reuters data, a total of 66% of Guyana’s oil was shipped to Europe in 2024, up from 62% in 2023. This growth trajectory is expected to be maintained if not exceeded, according to officials attending CERAWeek by S&P Global, a major energy conference in Houston, U.S.
Addressing the event on Tuesday, Irfaan Ali, President of Guyana, said: “Extraordinary things that we have achieved were down to the power of extraordinary partnerships and persisting with our plans for exploration and production. These will continue and we expect [near-term] production to rise further.”
For the Europeans, it seems that “further” bit cannot morph into “faster” soon enough given Guyana’s sweet, light crude oil composition suits them. It implies a lower sulfur content (~0.5% or below) and low density (high API gravity, typically greater than 30° API), resulting in a relatively higher proportion of lighter hydrocarbon yield.
The continent’s refiners have been increasingly taking up Guyana’s crude grades, Liza, Unity Gold, and Payara Gold — the composition of which is sweeter and lighter compared to other Latin American crudes from Mexico or Colombia.
And Guyana, which exported its first crude oil cargo towards the end of 2019, is now the fifth biggest exporter in Latin America, after Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia.
That’s as ExxonMobil, and its partners Hess Corp and China’s CNOOC, continue to improve production from the country’s offshore Stabroek Block. The oil play is among the most promising ones in the world where more than 11 billion oil-equivalent barrels have been discovered to date.
Guyanese officials have promised ease of market access to buyers and sellers alike and are expanding their global trading partnerships with major markets including India and the U.S.
The country is also looking for partners to crack or process its crude as it currently does not have any refineries of its own.
President Ali told CERAWeek he is considering a plan to export crude oil to the US for refining, and to bring back the fuel for domestic consumption as well for possible sale to nearby countries.
Guyana is also in discussions with companies to build its own refineries and has proposed a project to build one in the nearby Dominican Republic.
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